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Guidelines for
Business Portraits
Prepare for your headshot by taking care of yourself in the week leading up to your headshot.
Avoid drinking alcohol or smoking, and drink plenty of water for a few days and on the day of your headshot. This will make your skin very hydrated to fill in lines and wrinkles, undereye circles, and give you a healthy glow. Get plenty of sleep the night before your photo so you’re rested and ready to go.
[ clothing ]
Great portraits invariably involve classic style. It should be timeless, we don’t want to be able to identify a decade from your portrait. A favorite suit that fits well, and a shirt and tie that match.
If your career and company don’t require a suit, then try not to wear anything with bold distracting patterns unless you can layer a suit jacket, blazer, or sweater to calm down the pattern or colors of your top. The emphasis is on you.
Choose a non-white shirt if possible, a white shirt without a jacket and tie becomes a sea of white and distracts from what the picture is about. Make sure we can’t see an undershirt beneath a button-down shirt.
Executive headshots look better without bare arms, so avoid short sleeves or tank tops.
[ hair ]
Don’t cut or dye your hair right before the shoot. Freshly colored hair can look too vibrant and unnatural on camera- drawing more attention to your hair than your face. A new haircut also looks its best after at least a week, and colored hair looks more natural after 1-2 weeks’ worth of shampooing.
[ facial hair ]
If you have any, trim it evenly so it’s properly groomed. If you’re clean-shaven, do a good and thorough shave that morning. Whichever way you are with your facial hair, commit to it.
[ teeth ]
If you want to whiten your teeth before your session, start as early as possible and use a natural whitening method, or have your teeth whitened with your dentist.
A quick emergency whitening method that works for many people is to mix some toothpaste with about 1 teaspoon of baking soda, 1 teaspoon of food-grade hydrogen peroxide, and about 1/2 teaspoon of water. Polish your teeth with this mixture and it should quickly whiten your teeth a shade or two. But don’t use this method more often than once a month- baking soda is abrasive and can wear away at your enamel if used too frequently. (And retouching is also a much safer option!)
Are you ready to elevate your business portrait?
“Kristina Bird, Adam Bird, and Autumn Johnson-Pierce make the process fun and easy. The photoshoot is like a conversation with a friend, so the photos look natural and capture your best side. ”